High-intensity multiphoton ionization of atoms and radiation properties. Chaotic field effects

Abstract

The theoretical treatment of the one-step multiphoton ionization of atoms in strong fields is extended to include the effects of the field fluctuations. In particular, the case of a field with chaotic fluctuations (namely, with Gaussian distributions of both the field amplitude and phase) is worked out in detail and application is presented to the ionization of hydrogen. The results suggest that the inclusion of the field statistical properties remarkably modifies the findings obtained for the case of a coherent field, the modifications going, as a rule, in the direction of a better agreement with the experimental results. Thus, improvements in the description of the statistical properties of a strong radiation field should be considered as important as the accurate account of the atomic structure and of the dynamics of the ionization process.